NYC bans use of TikTok on city-owned phones, joining federal government, majority of states

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City has directed its employees to delete TikTok from their city-issued phones, joining the federal government and more than half of U.S. states in banning the use of the Chinese-owned social media app on government-owned devices. 

“While social media is great at connecting New Yorkers with one another and the city, we have to ensure we are always using these platforms in a secure manner," Jonah Allon, a spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams, said in a statement Thursday. 

Allon said the city's top information security officials determined that TikTok posed a security threat to the city’s technical networks and directed the app's removal from city-owned devices within 30 days. 

The federal government ordered employees to delete TikTok from government-issued cellphones earlier this year amid concerns that its parent company, ByteDance, could give user data to the Chinese government. More than half of U.S. states have enacted similar bans.